Principal turnover remains a significant challenge in U.S. public schools, particularly in high-poverty contexts, where leadership instability negatively impacts student achievement, teacher retention, and overall school performance. This study investigated the relationship between distributed leadership practices and burnout among secondary…

Special education eligibility determinations are decision making processes that involve multiple stakeholders who bring a variety of power, privilege, and influence that impacts the overall decision and trajectory of the evaluation team. Eligibility for special education is a prescriptive process outlined by federal and state regulations that…

Higher education is facing a wave of presidential transitions. While the transition of a president can be a monumental and celebrated occasion for a college or university, it is often accompanied by work disruptions, job uncertainty, and turnover of senior administrators. University presidents can face numerous challenges as they try to adapt to a…

The Individualized Education Program (IEP) remains a pivotal document for ensuring educational equity for students with disabilities in public education (Bateman, 2017). This qualitative interview study investigated how an IEP team supporting a student with extensive support needs navigated the decision-making process during annual IEP…

In this action research study, I explored and developed a means to address the challenge of developing, supporting, and retaining effective elementary school principals skilled in instructional leadership and serving in historically marginalized communities. Evidence from the research literature and earlier action research cycles indicated…

Students spend little time completing tasks when deadlines are far off; however, they tend to increase their work amounts as deadline approaches. This phenomenon, which is called deadline rush, can be modeled by exponential distributions. Deadline reactivity, represented by a rate parameter of the exponential distribution, parameterizes individual…

English language learners face different challenges in accessing relevant curriculum content compared to native English speakers. There is limited research on effective strategies that teachers use to ensure learning outcomes among English language learners. The purpose of this case study was to explore the leadership strategies that principals…

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive, single case study was to explore how K-8 teachers, lead teachers, and school administrators in an Arizona school district experienced shared leadership and described its influence on student and school success. The theoretical foundation that provided a lens for this study was the theory of shared…

Efforts to improve outcomes for students amidst a climate of school accountability have led to a myriad of education initiatives, perhaps none as profound and widespread as the tiered intervention models offered by the RTI and MTSS frameworks. While those who advocate for tiered intervention models argue that these systems bring support to…

This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of eleven current or former remote team leaders from five different job sectors, including Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), medical, insurance and personal finance, international aid, and academia. Analysis of the data gained through interviews identified five…

School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) are an integral part of schools across the United States. When implementing SWPBIS, academic achievement, emotional regulation, prosocial behavior increases while behavioral problems, bullying, exclusionary discipline teacher stress and teacher burnout decrease. Despite the…

This qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore how culturally diverse parents describe collaboration, such as communications, culture-sharing, and decision-making, with early childhood special education teams in one school district in the Pacific Northwest. The study was theoretically founded on Bronfenbrenner's bioecological systems theory…

In this exploratory mixed-methods case study, I examined 24 participating principals' perceptions of using implementation science to deploy Inclusive Learning Communities (ILC) in 33 Wisconsin schools participating in a Research-to-Practice Inclusive Communities (RPIC) project. I found evidence that ILC were supported by a majority of…

Although current education reform models have been in place for over a decade, the number of U.S. public schools identified as underperforming continues to rise. While the federal government has imposed increasingly stringent achievement requirements, practical instruction on improving schools remains inadequate. Learning from principals…

Multidisciplinary teams have become a consistent part of school culture and the decision-making process (Buck et al., 2003), however limited and inconsistent research (Huebner & Gould, 1991) is available regarding the effectiveness of multidisciplinary teams within the school environment. Current literature provides common themes regarding…